Koike Saito always made a point of arriving at work earlier than was expected of her. She'd been told by her boss of over eight years that she didn't have to, but she knew better than to take that seriously. He was rather notorious not only for showing up to work early, but for never leaving during the night. He was the reason that night-time security had been increased over the past few years. He was also the reason for her worrisome addiction to caffeine, but she didn't blame him. Not much anyway.
That was why Saito wasn't the least bit surprised when she saw a light filtering out from underneath Senator Hino's door. She simply shook her head, wondering what secret crisis had kept the man up all night. She took a sip of her black tea and then strode forward, not bothering to knock as she entered.
"Another all-nighter, Senator?" she asked, tutting. "You know the doctor said--"
"Don't you ever knock?" the senator interrupted, his head snapping up so fast Saito worried it might break off.
She blinked, and thought of how best to respond to that query. "No."
He glared at her, not appreciating her humor. "Well, start."
Knowing better than to cross Senator Hino when he was in one of his legendary moods, Saito simply nodded. "Yes, sir."
Senator Hino looked down at his papers and then gathered a few of them up in his arms. He beckoned for Saito to come closer by jerking his chin at her, and once again, she obeyed. He pushed the papers into her hands and said, "Type those up for me."
Saito glanced down at the crumpled, torn sheets of paper. They had been written in black ink, corrected in blue, and then corrected again in red. She also noticed for the first time that there was a pile of discarded sheets so high that she could no longer see the wastebasket. "A speech? What's this for?" she asked.
Senator Hino glared at her but answered just the same. "It's for the press conference I'm holding today."
Saito blinked three times in rapid succession. She shifted the papers to one arm and started digging through her purse, glad she hadn't put it down with her tea when she'd arrived. "But I don't think I have--"
"It's not on the damn schedule," he said brusquely, pushing his glasses up on his nose as if to punctuate his point.
Saito couldn't keep up with him this morning. And considering the lack of coffee in the room, she had no idea how that was happening. "But you're already having a press conference tomorrow."
"What? Am I only allotted one a week?" Senator Hino asked, his cruel tone making her feel ill at ease.
"Of course not, Senator, but--"
He threw up his hands, yelling, "What business is it of yours what I do with my career? You're not my mentor. You're not my equal. You're just my secretary! It is your job to dictate, type my speeches, and do whatever the hell else is in your job description!"
"Including coming in at seven o'clock every morning," Saito muttered bitterly.
"What was that?" he demanded, his blue eyes inflamed.
"Nothing," Saito said, forcing a smile even though she knew he wasn't going to be charmed. She looked down at the papers again and saw something even more surprising. The speech wasn't about any normal political issue; it was about Tuxedo Kamen and those other two child-like warriors.
Saito looked up in shock. "You're going to talk about the Sailor Senshi?"
"Yes," he snapped, bending down and rifling through his drawers.
This she couldn't dismiss as one of his moods. Something was definitely wrong with the Senator, and she wasn't going to type anything for him until she found out what it was. "Senator, if you'll permit me--"
"If you're not going to finish that sentence by asking permission to go type those papers, I strongly suggest you rethink saying it," Senator Hino warned, his teeth clenched so that the world came out like a growl.
Try as he might, the senator was not going to make Saito sway. "These people are not a political issue."
That made Senator Hino laugh, but not in any way that made Saito feel better. "They are responsible for over 118,355,000 yen in damage, were in a position to harm members of our military, and probably murdered a man."
The absurdity of the conversation made Saito bold, not that she needed much goading. "The collateral damage was done principally by the things they were trying to protect us from, the only thing they did to your precious soldiers was give them a few bruises from when the Senshi were knocked into them, and the man they supposedly murdered was more than likely the one attempting to slaughter people in order to lure them out."
"We have no proof of that," Senator Hino maintained.
"We also don't have proof to contradict that," Saito said, the volume of her voice beginning to increase.
Senator Hino shook his head and then slammed his drawers shut with a bang that shook the pictures on the walls. Saito didn't jump. "These are children wielding dangerous powers! They are indirectly responsible for the deaths at the hospital, and there is no telling what else could happen!"
"That was a monster!"
"That might not have come here had they not been flashing their magic around!"
Saito glared openly at her employer. "You've never mentioned any of these feelings before."
"I've always felt this way," the senator informed her. "Normally, I try to stay away from controversial issues in order to maintain a large base of voters, but this is something I can't ignore any longer."
Saito shook her head. "I don't believe you."
"Are you calling me a liar?" Senator Hino demanded.
Saito shrugged. "I don't know what I'm calling you, but you are not acting like yourself, Senator Hino."
"Don't tell me how I ought to--"
"Your doctor told you that you should be taking it easy," Saito interrupted. "He told you that if you didn't lower your stress levels, you might suffer a psychotic break."
Senator Hino started to turn red. "I am not crazy!"
"Then stop acting like it!" Saito returned.
"You're fired!"
Saito stared. She froze in place, feeling like her surroundings were starting to blur. She couldn't believe that she'd heard that right.
"I'm sorry?" she asked hoarsely.
"You heard me," the senator spat. "You're fired! Collect your things and get out."
Saito couldn't believe it. She had slaved for that man for nearly a decade. She had taken him to the doctor when she thought he could be suffering from anxiety attacks, she made sure the cleaning service knew exactly how to keep his office clean, she made all of his appointments, and she'd even spent a fair amount of time telling his sad little daughter that her father was too busy to talk to her even though it had broken her heart every damn time. And now she was fired.
"Well, then... if that's what you want," Saito said softly. She took a deep breath and shoved the papers back into his arms. "Type your own God damn speech, you ungrateful son of a bitch."
With that, Saito knew that her time with Senator Hino was done. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the office, taking care to slam the door behind her as she walked out of his life.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
This scene was in the original draft of the eighth chapter, but I cut it in favor of having the scene with Senator Hino's mentor. One of my big problems with Part Eight was that everyone seemed to be against Senator Hino, which is sort of ridiculous. I was planning on having it be clear there were others on his side in later chapters, but just reading chapter eight without knowing that made reading it pretty bad. ; Anyway, I really liked Saito, but I couldn't justify having yet another scene establishing Senator Hino's descent, so out this one went. Besides, it doesn't really fit in with the time continuity anymore.
